


Sweet Temptations

by mikkimouse



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Missing Scene, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 19:04:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19157086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: "What did you do?""What kind of a question is that?" Crowley tried to sound wounded, although he knew damn well what he'd done. "I just came to congratulate you on your shop." He brandished the box. "Look, I brought chocolates."(Or, an addition to the deleted scene from 1800.)





	Sweet Temptations

**Author's Note:**

> I not!ficced a little [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m/status/1136831661369376773) about something else and [Painted](https://twitter.com/paintedrecs) said "M's gonna write this before the end of the week" and I just want to say she was _wrong_. 
> 
> I wrote this one instead. 
> 
> Painted still gave me the title and a beta read, because she's a good ~~enabler~~ friend like that. Thank you, as always. <3
> 
> This is an addition to [the deleted scene from 1800](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/post/185419159240/this-has-the-scene-where-crowley-brings-chocolates), where Heaven was going to promote Aziraphale off Earth, and Crowley faked a conversation to get Gabriel to leave him alone. The scene ends with Aziraphale alone in his bookshop after Gabriel has informed him he's _not_ going back to Heaven, and I was just like... okay but does Aziraphale figure out Crowley had something to do with him staying? Does Crowley bring back the chocolates? Inquiring minds need to know! (Meaning me. I need to know.)
> 
> _Chocolates_ , you guys. I feel like it should come as zero surprise that it inspired my first fic in a new fandom.
> 
> You should probably read that scene first; it's very short and it's a damned _delight_ and I'll always be a little sad we didn't get to see it on-screen.

Crowley waited until it was nearly dark before he made his way back to the bookshop. He didn't think Gabriel would still be hanging around—Crowley was reasonably sure he'd have popped back off to Heaven as soon as he could—but one could never be too careful. Especially when one was bringing chocolates to one's supposed eternal enemy. That demanded a particular level of caution. 

He peeked in the windows of the bookshop, but saw no one inside. Good. 

He juggled the box to one hand and opened the front door, which jingled cheerily to announce his entrance. 

"Oh, _really_ ," Aziraphale's aggrieved voice came from back behind a half-filled shelf. "We're not open until the end of the week, and even if we were, we wouldn't be open this late. Come back on Friday!" 

He rounded the bookshelf, an all-white specter of prissy irritation, and then his gaze settled on Crowley and his entire face lit like a sunrise. "Crowley!" 

Nearly six _thousand_ years of knowing each other, and that smile still did something to Crowley. He didn't like to examine it too closely. That would lead to thinking about things, and he was not going to think about things. He'd been avoiding thinking about things for millennia; he was very good at it.

He did, however, know that those precious few seconds when Aziraphale was happy to see him were his favorites.

The smile lasted all of three of said seconds before it vanished, and Aziraphale narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?" 

"What kind of a question is that?" Crowley tried to sound wounded, although he knew damn well what he'd done. "I just came to congratulate you on your shop." He brandished the box. "Look, I brought chocolates." 

"No. You did something." Aziraphale actually wagged his finger. "Gabriel was prepared to take me back with them and when he got back from the tailor, he'd _changed his mind."_

He narrowed his eyes. He was probably trying to look threatening. Unfortunately, Aziraphale was about as threatening as a lump of vanilla pudding. Possibly even less so; Crowley had seen some frightening puddings. 

"What did you do?" Aziraphale asked again. 

"Nothing! I promise. Just a bit of theater where Gabriel might have overheard a demon celebrating the removal of his angelic adversary, that's all. Suppose it made him realize you'd be much more effective down here." Crowley held up the box again. "Chocolate?" 

"A bit of theater?" Aziraphale repeated.

Crowley threw back his head and groaned. "I had an audience with some of the tailor's dummies. I only had a few moments; I had to improvise. Are you happy now?" He wiggled the box. "Don't you even want your present?" 

Aziraphale's gaze flicked to the box, and Crowley could see him wavering in his semi-righteous irritation. Crowley eased open the lid to reveal the chocolates lined up inside. 

"You brought chocolates?" Aziraphale said, a note of hope in his voice. 

Crowley shrugged, like it hardly mattered. "Well, you're opening a new shop. A tiny bit of temptation is in order, don't you think?" 

He thought that comment might engender a snappish comment in return, but no, Aziraphale took the box reverently, his gaze already roving over the sweets. "Well...thank you." 

Crowley wasn't sure if he was being thanked for the gift or if he was being thanked for doing something to keep Aziraphale on Earth, but he would take both. He made a show of looking over the bookshelves, most of them still half-empty. "I mean, you didn't _want_ to go back, did you?" 

"It was a promotion," Aziraphale said, still engrossed in the chocolates. "One ought to be excited about promotions." 

One _ought_ to be excited about promotions, implying that Aziraphale had _not_ been. Crowley liked to think that had at least a little to do with him. "Mm, yeah, promotions. Very exciting. Take you back up there," he wiggled his hand in the vague direction of the ceiling and Heaven, "without any of your music or art or food or _books_ , and leave your brand-new shop to someone else. Michael, apparently." 

Aziraphale shuddered. "The least they could do is pick someone who might know how to take care of books properly." He finally selected a chocolate and took a bite, and his eyelashes fluttered shut. "Oh, Crowley, these are _divine_."

Crowley was reasonably sure there was no being in Heaven, Hell, or on Earth that enjoyed food as much as Aziraphale. Centuries of trying all the different little delectables that humans thought up, and he still reacted with unfettered appreciation every single time. It was another of Crowley's favorite things about him. 

Aziraphale held out the box. "Would you like one?" 

Crowley shook his head and settled into an armchair, looking around the little shop. The shelves lined the walls and crossed most of the space between, crates of books littered the floor, and a couple of lanterns bathed the entire thing in a comforting yellowy-orange glow. It'd probably be a nice shop once Aziraphale had finished putting everything together. Cozy. 

"So, a bookshop," Crowley said. "It looks...very bookish. Loads of books." 

Aziraphale finished his chocolate and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his fingers. "I think it will be rather fun. I've never run a bookshop before. It should be exciting, don't you think?" 

Crowley did not think running a bookshop sounded exciting or fun or any other word that could ever be even remotely a synonym for those two. In fact, it sounded dreadfully dull. But Aziraphale was beaming brightly enough that Crowley was fairly sure he was _glowing_ a bit, and. Well. 

"I think you'll be _spectacular_ at it," Crowley said, not even a little sarcastically.

Aziraphale beamed even brighter and went back to shelving the books, pausing occasionally to enjoy another chocolate and always wiping his hands before he went back to the books. Crowley wanted to go find the wine, get Aziraphale to sit down and drink and talk with him for a while, but there was something calming about the way Aziraphale was putting his shop together, shelving the books and nibbling the chocolates and rambling a bit about what he intended to do with the grand opening. 

Crowley rested his head on the back of the chair and watched Aziraphale, secure in the knowledge that his dark glasses would hide enough of his expression that, even if Aziraphale did look over, he wouldn't be able to decipher any of it. 

What Crowley _ought_ to do was go home. He'd delivered the chocolates; there wasn't any other reason for him to be hanging around.

But the shop was warm, and Aziraphale's voice was soothing, and Crowley was quite comfortable right where he was. Surely it wouldn't do any harm for him to stay just a bit longer. 

So he closed his eyes and drifted off to the quiet sounds of Aziraphale puttering around the bookshop.

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I would post a non-Tiger & Bunny fic next, because that's almost all I've posted this year and I've got another big one I'm writing for the FTH auction. This...was not what I had in mind but it does _technically_ count. >.>
> 
> Come see me on:  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)  
> [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/)  
> [Dreamwidth](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/)  
> [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/mad-madam-m)


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